PT Why Didn't Palpatine Control the Minds of the Senators?

Like use the Force to make their minds all goofy and automatically make him Emperor.

 

Because its not that easy to control thousands of minds at once, let alone do it without anyone being suspicious.

 

Simple. He didnt have to. They made him Emperor without any mind control at all. He didn't need to resort something so crude in order to become Emperor.

 

Not everyone is able to be mind controlled by the force. Plus, why use mind control when in time they'll willingly make him Emperor and it'll all be authentic?

 

Powers that Jedi/Sith use all the time sometimes go curiously unused at bad times. Take Yoda, for example. In his duel with Sidious, he was able to stop and redirect all the heavy pods (or whatever they are called) that Sidious was throwing at him. However, moments later he is clinging to one for a few seconds before falling down to the floor at the end of the duel. Why didn't he levitate back up? Should have been easy.

There are a lot of examples like that.

 

I think that to control thousands minds at the same time for him is not that easy. So that, he could be an Emperor officially.

 

Palps was so good at playing the Senate that he didn't need to mind control them.

 

He knew he didn't have to control their minds. He wanted to make it appear he had been installed as Emperor legitimately.

 

Hitler didn't use magic. What makes the rise of the Empire so mythologically compelling is that it's so real. It's the same story that has plagued our history on earth time and time again. So it was absolutely crucial, for the purpose of the story George was trying to tell, that the people would willingly, knowingly grant Palpatine his power "with thunderous applause".

 

One could argue that he did use mind control on most of senators. Hence why they did unanimously vote him to be Emperor (Save Bail and Padme). Now this mind control may have been over time, Palpatine may have met with smaller groups of the senators and polluted their thinking as many charismatic leaders can. Just a thought.

 

Yes, but your suggesting more of a charismatic appeal and persuasion. I think some were suggesting literal sith mind control.

 

Well, I would argue in the charisma and persuasion Palpatine did use the Dark Side and mind control. He did as you said, but added another level with his Force Power. That would explain why it was more effective, especially because one could argue that some of the Senators were "weak minded."

 

Exactly. How did all the dictators achieve power if not through brute force? By being a good orator. By using carefully constructed words to persuade the audience that their side is legit, that their side is right. Lenin didn't need magic to convince the Russians to knock down centuries-old traditions. Hitler (pardon the Godwin's Law) didn't need magic to convince the Germans to wage genocidal war on Europe. All it takes is the right charisma and the persuasion skills, and one could persuade people to do things they'd never thought they'd do.

 

OBI-WAN: "The Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded."

ANAKIN: "They only work on the weak-minded."

JABBA: "You weak-minded fool, he's using a Jedi mind trick."

Not everyone in the Senate was weak-minded.

Yoda quit because he realized he couldn't win this fight and if he kept trying, he'd be killed by Palpatine.

He got what he wanted because he played upon their fears and ignorance. He created a climate of fear and convinced the Republic to give him power and control in order to bypass the Senate and take control. History is filled with such actions.

 

I never claimed everyone in the Senate was weak minded. I said some.

 

But not enough to gain a majority vote. Palpatine used a lot of different tools to get what he wanted and even as strong as he is, he couldn't pull it off and not be detected by the Jedi.

 

Fair point, if Palpatine's Dark Side powers we too present in his machinations then he would have been detected by the Jedi earlier.

 

Plot hole!

 

Well it probably came from the fact that many senators have strong minds that would not be easy to be controlled, especially en masse. Especially that, since Obi-Wan had told the Council of someone manipulating the Senate, the Jedi would instantly jump on it.

 

Also, Palpatine would have to keep up the mind control 24/7, 365 days of the year, or else people would realize something wasn't right. Seems like that'd be a bit much, even for Palpatine.

 

Palpatine wasn't the mind trick kinda guy...

that's the Jedi's MO

in all seriousness though Han Burgundy said it best, so don't have anything to add to it.

 

You're right, it was the mustache. That's all it took, and his well-groomed hair.

Although, I will agree with Crystalia. Your post said it the best.

 

There's no saying if Palpatine could control minds, but even if he could, he probably wouldn't be able to do it without the jedi finding out. Controlling that many minds has to leave some sort of tremor in the force. On another note, the senate is not the whole galaxy. The whole reason Palpatine did what he did instead of just conquering a defenseless republic with a droid army was because he needed to win the hearts and minds of the galactic community. He needed to emerge from his rise to power as a savior, not a conqueror. Rather than mind control the senate into making him emperor, he convinced them, and at the same time the general public, that they NEEDED him as emperor.

 

I don't see it that way at all. He managed to get Palpatine into a one-on-one battle and they were pretty much each others equal. Once he fell, he couldn't be so sure that he would get a similar chance once he managed to get back. It's one thing to fight Palpatine, it's something entirely different to fight Palpatine and the resources of an entire Empire. Palpatine could only focus on beating Yoda, if anyone else got hurt it wouldn't matter to him. Yoda, on the other hand, needed to beat Palpatine and evade every soldier send after him at the same time. You cannot beat your equal when you have to split your attention and he doesn't.

 

Lol Is this thread a serious question? Imagine Palpatine standing on his pod in the middle of the Senate waving his hand:

"You will all vote to make me ruler of the Republic."